AUSTRALIA
International Business Times
By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | April 22, 2013
If parents and adults had paid more attention in the previous years to the complaints of children that they have been sexually abused by members of a religious church or community, the burgeoning number might have already been nipped right in the bud early on.
Philip Freier, Melbourne Anglican Archbishop, told a Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled sex abuse, said it is most unfortunate children’s grievances were not being heard, at worst just plainly disregarded.
“Children were frankly disbelieved; disbelieved by their parents, they were disbelieved by the adults around them when they raised complaints,” Archbishop Freier said.
Since 1955, the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne said it has dealt with 46 cases of child abuse. But Mr Freier said the numbers could be more because records were poorly kept
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